Many people are reluctant to work on ladders, especially when it is more than a few rungs up. They feel insecure. Also, the available space atop a ladder for the tools and materials to do a job is limited. Even the step ladders with a fold down trays have only a small space available. I personally do not like to work on ladders. There is a lot of climbing up and down to get the right tool or the sealant or retrieving the screw that fell down or whatever. I cling to the ladder and worry, for example, that when I pull out a nail I will fall backward when it releases.
Accidents and deaths from falling off of ladders are more prevalent than one might imagine. The Center for Disease Control reported in their weekly Morbidity and Mortality Report (MMWR) of Apr. 25, 2011 (titled “Occupational Ladder Fall Injuries-United States, 2011) that “falls remain a leading cause of unintentional injury/mortality nationwide, and 43% of fatal falls in the last decade have involved a ladder. Among construction workers, an estimated 81% of fall injuries treated in U.S. emergency departments (EDs) involve a ladder.” There is clearly the need for a safer way to access work areas that are too high to reach normally. One day when I was studying the rust stain on an outside wall that was caused by rust in a second story window, I thought to myself, “Never in a million years will I climb up there on a ladder and clean that up”. That's when I realized that I could invent/build an electric ladder with a platform that would carry me and my tools up there where I could work comfortably and with a feeling of security. The current technology in small high power motors, new improved batteries with higher capacities, and improved high strength composite materials now make it feasible to construct an extremely practical battery powered electric ladder for home or professional use.